Healthy Travel: Biohack Your Hotel Stay with These Small Tweaks

Travel can take its toll on your body. Just getting to your destination often requires you to break sleep patterns, eating habits and exercise routines. The physical effects of air travel can be felt for days afterward, as jet lag and exhaustion are real risks for frequent or long-haul flyers. Yet a full reset of how you travel is often hard to implement. That's where biohacking, or tweaking and tailoring your hotel stay in many little ways, comes in. 

Biohacking refers to minor adjustments in behaviour and environment that add up to major health benefits. Much of this growing movement is built around simple, holistic lifestyle changes that are relatively easy to adopt and maintain. Travel makes its own demands, as you want to maximise relaxation while also boosting energy levels to get the most from your holiday time, or to stay sharp on business trips. So, here's a brief guide to biohacking on the go.

Biohack your diet en route with a few strategic tricks that can make all the difference.
 

• Hydration: Fluid intake must come first, especially when you're over-exposed to pressurised aircraft cabins and air-conditioned rooms. Adding powdered electrolytes or even a pinch of Himalayan sea salt to bottled water can help enhance rehydration.
   

• Tactical snacking: What biohackers call "targeted nutrition" becomes essential with the disruption that travel brings to regular mealtimes and food sources. You can pack for this by bringing nutritious snacks: nuts, seeds, dried fruits and protein bars give you alternatives to the processed foods common to airports and in-flight service.
  
  
• Timing is everything: Your metabolism may be thrown by a shift of time zones and other travel-related stresses, but you can help it adjust with plenty of protein at breakfast (think eggs, Greek yoghurt, lean meats and so on). Book dinner as early as possible, to give your system a rest of three or four hours before bed.
  
  
• Stimulant management:  Both casual meals and business lunches can mean more, and stronger, measures of caffeine and alcohol than you might be used to. Try not to drink coffee after 2pm, and keep beer, wine and spirits to a minimum to ensure better sleep.

Novotel's Longevity Everyday philosophy aligns to the basic principles of a biohacked diet, promoting healthy travel with menus that favour nutrient-rich, plant-forward eating. Chef Alfie Steiner is among the expert collaborators who comprise the Novotel 37 Collective, advising on the best ways "to put more plants on plates around the world". You can enjoy the brand's new range of refreshing, relaxing signature teas at properties throughout France, while garden restaurants such as Le Petit Marguerite at Novotel Paris Les Halles balance sustainably sourced French meats and seafood with freshest organic vegetables.

Here are some easy tweaks to make your hotel room or suite even more comfortable.
 

• Blackout conditions: Studies suggest that a "cave-like" environment fosters the healthiest sleep, as full darkness boosts melatonin production by up to 40%, and limits the damage that travel can do to the body's natural circadian rhythm. Even a little light from windows, doorways or power points can have negative effects, so it's best to exclude those sources too: cover TV standby lights with tape, fill in door gaps with towels, and seal blinds extra-tight with clothes pegs or hangers. Get yourself a good-quality sleep mask too.
  
  
• Noise reduction: Silence is vital, and it helps to block out street or hallway noise with decent silicon earplugs. Portable white noise machines and small electric fans can also be useful tools for healthy travel, creating a blanket of ambient sound while you sleep.
  
  
• Digital wellness: Set devices to "night mode" to dim the blue light that suppresses melatonin levels and power off screens altogether in the hours before bed. 
  
  
• Temperature control: It's common to feel too hot or cold in air-conditioned hotel rooms, and experts say that a "cool" setting of 15-19°C is ideal, sleep-wise. In quiet rural areas it can also help to open a window at night. You might also want to bring a portable air purifier to help protect against dust and allergens.

Novotel beds are superbly comfortable as standard, with firm pocket-spring mattresses, integrated toppers, smooth linens and enveloping pillows – all designed from environmentally sound materials for pressure relief and motion isolation. You can further enhance the positive effects of a great sleep by choosing a hotel in a quiet, restful environment. Novotel Domaine De Maffliers - Demeures De Campagne, for example, is a prime destination for healthy travel, set deep inside a tranquil 35-hectare park. You can take walks and bike rides in surrounding countryside, hit the gym, pool and sauna, and even nap in hammocks right outside.

"Motion is lotion", as biohackers like to say. Healthy travel means moving as often and efficiently as you can to counteract the effects of long hours sitting still on planes, or in meetings. 
 

• Fresh start: Begin the day with 15 minutes of gentle yoga or stretching to relieve stiffness, and keep your morning shower pretty cold to awaken the metabolism. A few minutes of sunlight exposure as soon as possible after waking will also help reset the circadian clock.
  
  
• Smart workouts: Even if holiday itineraries or work schedules don't leave much time for exercise, a quick burst of exertion can really boost energy levels. Do a brief high-intensity bodyweight circuit of squats, planks and push-ups in your room, or bring lightweight resistance bands to fit in a little strength training between appointments.
  
  
• Step this way: Sightseeing can be a great opportunity for exercise if you prioritise walking over taxis and public transport – moving between landmarks on foot in a city like Paris, you'll easily clock up an extra 20,000 steps a day. 
  
  
• Hot and cold: Contrast is a big thing in biohacking. If your hotel has a gym or spa, shifting from a cold plunge pool to a sauna or steam room can really help activate brown fat, reduce inflammation and boost your body's resistance to travel fatigue.
  
  
• Staying grounded: In the movie Die Hard, a fellow passenger advises nervous flyer John McClane (played by Bruce Willis) to walk barefoot and "make fists with your toes" after landing. Studies have since borne this out, and the positive effects are especially pronounced on natural surfaces like grass or sand, as that skin contact boosts serotonin and improves circulation.
   

Novotel Thalassa Le Touquet is ideal for an active holiday or corporate retreat in France, with ready access to the dunes and waves of the Opal Coast. Supplement your biohacking routine with tennis, golfing, kite-surfing, or simple breathing exercises with the added benefits of a fresh sea breeze. The hotel is also a showcase for Novotel's current partnership with the WWF in a campaign to promote and protect the oceans.

As you can see, well-being and longevity are built through small, consistent daily actions rather than radical lifestyle changes. Hotels with a wellness ethos like Novotel are a key environment for healthier habits during travel, so where will you go next?